Crisis Intervention Team

In 2007, the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office and the Rochester Police Department collaborated with the Olmsted County Behavioral Health Unit to provide the first Crisis Intervention Team certification training in Olmsted County. 

Our training is based on the nationally recognized Memphis Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model, which promotes a more professional, effective and humane response by law enforcement officers to individuals with mental illness.  Major topics of study include: recognition of mental illness, psychopharmacology, on-site visits to local mental health facilities and crisis de-escalation skills.  An important aspect of the training is the involvement of each partner agency. Mental health professionals from area mental health facilities, representatives from NAMI, and mental health consumers are all involved in the training. 

CIT training has been proven to dramatically reduce the risk of injury and/or death to both officers and consumers of mental health services, while reducing the number of repeat calls for service.

Currently, seventy CIT certified officers, deputies, detention deputies and sixteen dispatchers specialize in this area.    
 
Mission Statement: 
The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is a community partnership working with community services, mental health consumers and family members. Our goal is to set a standard of excellence for our officers with respect to treatment of individuals with mental illness by establishing rapport with consumers and taking on individual responsibility for each event and an overall accountability for the results. Our officers will be provided with the best quality training available, they will be part of a specialized team which can respond to a crisis at any time and they will work with the community and its resources to resolve each situation in a manner that shows concern for the citizen's well being.

For additional Information Contact: 
Bruce Christenson, Sergeant/CIT Coordinator Olmsted County Sheriff's Office         
(507) 328-6748 christenson.bruce@co.olmsted.mn.us 

Carla Hamand, LGSW, Forensic Social Worker, Olmsted County Behavioral Health and Sheriff's Office
(507) 328-6851 hamand.carla@co.olmsted.mn.us 

Casey Moilanen, Lieutenant/CIT Coordinator, Rochester Police 
(507) 328-6931 rmoilanen@rochestermn.gov 

Resources:     
http://www.nami-semn.org/       
http://www.mncit.org   
http://www.zumbromhc.org                                                     
http://www.memphispolice.org/Crisis%20Intervention.htm                                                   
http://cit.memphis.edu/   
                                         
http://www.ci.rochester.mn.us/departments/police/index.asp                                              http://www.houstoncit.org/